Lee Radford believes Ratu Naulago is only going to get better and better in a Hull FC shirt as he continues his development.

Having signed his first professional deal in February, Naulago made just his seventh senior appearance on Friday night for FC, just days after featuring for the British Army in a rugby union clash against the Royal Navy at Twickenham.

However, despite his inexperience in the 13-man code, the winger impressed as FC reached the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup with a commanding victory over Castleford Tigers, winning the fans’ man of the match award at the KCOM Stadium.

As such, Radford has understandably been delighted with the 27-year-old’s efforts so far this season in Black and White, but he believes Naulago has so much more to give with so much potential at his fingertips.

“He just keeps getting better really,” Radford said on Friday night about the Fijian.

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“I just love to see him come out the other end and into some space because he can move. If he gets it, he’s going to finish from deep but they just managed to claw onto him slightly.

“He’s been brilliant. He’s come back from playing in front of 80,000 last week and performed really well in a rugby union game and then to come back in and put in that performance for us was great.

Ratu Naulago in action for Hull FC against Wakefield Trinity

“I just think he’s going to be better the longer he’s with us. He’s really easy, he’s a one-to-one player.

“You tell him once and you see him take it on and then adjust it. I’ve got some 20-to-one blokes and he’s right up there in terms of ‘this is what I want you to do and this is what I want you to change’. You can see him go out of his way to do that, he makes a coach’s job easy that’s for sure.”

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Before Friday Naulago hadn’t featured for Hull since Easter Monday due to commitments with the Army, however, after winning the Babcock Trophy, he was brought straight back into the Hull side along with Marc Sneyd, Albert Kelly and Dean Hadley, who had missed the previous week through injury.

While Jack Logan appeared to pick up an arm injury in the Cup clash, FC will be hoping to boosted by the return of a couple more faces this week with Carlos Tuimavave and Danny Washbrook among those who could potentially be fit for next weekend.